


Three Brothers: Remix

by OceansAlliteration



Category: One Piece
Genre: Adopted from another author, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Devil Fruit Sabo, Different Devil Fruit Monkey D. Luffy, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Relationships on the crew will be mentioned but not explicit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 12:18:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17223962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OceansAlliteration/pseuds/OceansAlliteration
Summary: Adopted from Jinx777.As the ASL brothers stood on the hill watching the Grey Terminal burn along with all the people inside, they realised that they would never be the same. It was also at that moment that Luffy decided to show his brothers his secret stash of food, which consisted of three very odd fruits. Different DF Luffy, DF Sabo, and all three set out together.





	Three Brothers: Remix

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Three Brothers](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/444920) by Jinx777. 



> New Authors Note:  
> Hi! So I wanted to start this off by saying how much I love the original work by Jinx777. Their story captured my attention, and I really wish they could have stuck around to finish it (or at least let us know what would have come next). 
> 
> Sadly, as is written below, they felt the need to start over with their writing. Lucky for me (and maybe for you) they gave blanket permission to continue their stories, or make new ones based on them. 
> 
> It is my intent to try my hand at picking up where Jinx777 left off with this story. Three Brothers is a tale I really think could use some love, and I want to give it that love. 
> 
> I will be editing, adding necessary elements, and changing a few plot points (to give the story more consistency and get it in line with canon). That said, I do want to try and leave the bulk of this story as it was originally written up to chapter 8. After that I will start filling in the rest of this story with my own crazy ideas. 
> 
> With the ASL trio together, and Logia Devil Fruits in play, this story is going to get wild. I only hope I can do the original story justice and do right by Jinx777.
> 
>  
> 
> Permission and Farewell from Jinx777:  
> ok, so I am just going to be straight here. after much thinking, I have decided to stop using this account and make a fresh start on this site with a new one. I will not tell anyone the name of this new account and the only reason I am not closing this one completely is-
> 
> 1\. I don't actually know how.
> 
> 2\. people still like the stories I posted.
> 
> as of this point all my fics are up for adoption/whatever. if you want to continue them go ahead, if you want to make your own version go for it.
> 
> I am sorry to all those that have supported me over the years I have been writing on this site and who still read my fic's, but I feel like I just need a fresh start with no attachments to what I have written in the passed.
> 
> thank you all for your support, and at least under this name, Goodbye.
> 
> Jinx777
> 
>  
> 
> Original Authors Note:  
> So I've been reading a lot of One Piece Fanfiction at the moment, and it put this idea in my head. Few things to clear up though before you read.
> 
> Luffy did not have a Devil Fruit before he met Ace and Sabo, the story is mostly the same put to this point except for that. Sabo didn't try and sail away and was able to escape from the city and meet up with Ace and Luffy.
> 
> Ace will still have the Flame Flame Fruit, but Luffy will have a different Devil Fruit and Sabo will be getting one too, though I am not sure it has come up in the series before this point. All three will be Logia, and you will find out what they are in this chapter.

They could only look out at the scene before them with wide, horrified eyes and open mouths. Standing on top of a hill at the edge of the forest, the three brothers had a perfect view as the fire slowly burned its way through the Grey Terminal.

But it was not only the view they were witness to. Even from where they stood, they were able to hear the screams. People - whose only real crime was being poor in the eyes of the nobility - crying out in pain and desperation as they were burned alive, along with the junk they lived and scavenged in. In the distance the three could hear the faint pops of gunfire, and the pleading cries of those who had tried to escape to the city as they were gunned down by the guards at the gate.

Sabo, his blonde hair dirty with soot and blood, could only look on with a mixture of guilt and horror at what his own people had done. His grip on the pipe in his hand tightened, turning his knuckles white as small choking sounds escaped his throat. The burn on the left side of his face - that he had gotten while escaping the fire with his brothers - was screaming in pain. But he barely even registered it as the tragedy before him continued to play out.

"How…" the blonde managed to choke out past gritted teeth, "how can those  _ monsters _ do something like this…" Sabo trailed off.

Ace stood silently, ashes in his hair and grime streaked across his face, his expression was one of pure rage. His fists were balled tightly, blood welling up where his fingernails dug into his palms. He shook with emotion, forcing down his desire to run back to the burning Grey Terminal. To try and help the people who had practically raised him alongside Dadan and the bandits.

Finally the raven haired boy snarled, "Fucking  _ bastards…" _ Sabo just nodded his head, lips thinning and blue eyes blazing with the light of the fire.

"This is  _ wrong _ ." Sabo said, voice low and flat. He didn't say anything more after that, there was nothing else he  _ could _ say.

Beside them, Luffy - who was always so positive and cheerful - found himself struck speechless and horrified at the sight in front of him. Silent tears fell from his eyes, memories of the adventures he and his brothers had had in the now-burning trash heap played behind his blank gaze.

Unable to stop, he thought of the kind old woman who fed him, Ace, and Sabo from her own plate in the winter. Even though there wasn't really enough food to go around. Of the kids he and his brothers fought every so often over little treasures, or over scrap heaps they had yet to plunder, or just for the hell of it. He thought of the drunk old men who told them stories about far off islands, of the young girl who sometimes bought herbs from him and his brothers, of the lady who had just had her baby, of the older boy who had almost gotten enough berri together to move into the city proper.

Luffy cried for the kind souls who took care of each other, and who had cared for three strange boys from the other side of the island. His mind kept circling back to a single question as his hands hung limply at his sides.

' _ Why?' _

It was a question he and his brothers would ask themselves for years, whenever they thought of this night. When they woke from nightmares, when they saw the cruelty humanity was capable of dispensing, when they felt helpless. It was a question that would never truly leave them. One they had been forced to ask themselves  _ far _ too soon.

The three stood there watching the fires burn until the first faint rays of pre-dawn light crested over the horizon. They refused to leave until the last ember was cold and the screams fell silent. In their minds, it was the least they could do. Even if they weren't able to help save anyone, the people of Grey Terminal at least deserved to have someone acknowledge their last moments.

When the last of the fires finally burned out Ace slowly turned his back to what was once the Grey Terminal.

"Come on, we're going back to the treehouse." He said, before laying a hand on each of his brother's shoulders and pulling them away.

Silently, the three boys started the long walk back to their treehouse.

XXX

Luffy and Ace bandaged Sabo's burn carefully, rubbing some herbs they had gathered before that day into it, making sure it wouldn't get infected while healing. The bandage was covering his left eye, so for the moment Sabo only had the right one available to glare out at the world. His furious expression probably would have looked more intimidating had the white bandages not obscured half of it.

It was clear to the three of them, even with their limited medical knowledge, that the burn would leave a scar. But Sabo didn't care about that. For the rest of his life it would serve as a reminder of what had happened that day. It was a way to make sure he never forgot what  _ Nobles _ were capable of.

After he finished bandaging his blonde brother's face, and made sure Luffy didn't have any injuries they had missed, Ace had moved to lean over the railing that looked out over the forest with his back to them. In the cold light of dawn he could still make out the smoke rising in the distance. The smell of it still clung to the three boys' skin and hair, the acrid scent having followed them all the way back to their little sanctuary.

Luffy sat in a corner in silence, having not uttered a word since they had gotten back. Both Ace and Sabo knew, in a detached kind of way, that Luffy was in shock. Neither of them knew how to help their youngest brother though. They themselves were still processing what they'd seen. Trying to make some kind of sense out of the atrocity they had been witness to. And the guilt they felt was finally starting to settle in, eating at them like they had swallowed acid.

Though they were, in truth, only three or four years older than him, Luffy had always seemed much younger in their eyes. It made both of them feel like they needed to look after the little idiot. As his older brothers, they saw it as their job to protect him…but both knew that they had failed in that duty. Luffy should never have seen what had happened that night, never heard the screams of the dying, or smelt the stench of burning junk and human flesh mixed together. None of them should have.

Both older boys were actually very worried about what this would do to their younger brother. They wondered if he would still be the innocent little boy that declared, with such determination, that he would be the King of the Pirates.

After everything that happened, it was probably a good thing neither Ace nor Sabo actually  _ wanted _ to be the Pirate King. They both still wanted to be pirates, of course. But Ace never wanted to be the  _ King _ because he hated his father, and the thought of sharing  _ that man's  _ title made him burn inside. Sabo simply saw being a pirate as his path to freedom, a way to escape his life as a Noble child and be truly free.

They both wanted to support their little brother and his dream. It was only now, when they weren't sure if Luffy would be alright, they realized how much they would do to see it come true. To see his smile again, and cheer him on in his victory. Without a word being spoken, they both resolved to help their brother achieve his dream, no matter what.

For the most part, Luffy himself was dead to the world around him. The screams of the dying echoed endlessly in his mind, and his eyes still stung with tears. He could still feel the heat, smell the acrid smoke, and his ragged breathing betrayed the ash he had inhaled still coating his lungs. Everything that had happened was on a constant loop inside his head, replaying over and over again.

It was as this was happening, though, that Luffy started to understand something. He had been looking at the world through a pair of rose tinted glasses. Thinking everything was black and white and made sense. But the truth was the world was black, with an endless sea of grey, leading to a few spots of white in the distance. Lifting his head just slightly, Luffy caught sight of his brothers.

' _ Maybe...there are a  _ few  _ white spots nearby…'  _ He thought, and something seemed to spark in his dark eyes. His face hardening, Luffy slowly got to his feet and moved over to the loose floorboard in the middle of the treehouse. It was where he kept his secret food stash, at least, that was what he had told his brothers it was. In actuality, the hiding spot held his second most important treasure.

His movement got the attention of both Sabo and Ace, who watched silently as he moved the board away and reached down to pull out an old wooden chest. It wasn't very big, the brass fittings on it looked old and rusted, but the lock on it was new and strong. Slowly moving to stand behind him, they watched as he pulled a key from a string around his neck that they had never noticed before, and opened the chest.

Inside sat three oddly shaped and coloured fruits, laying side by side.

The one on the right looked like a white orange, with bluish grey swirls covering it. The one on the left looked like a heart shaped apple, with what seemed to be a pattern of flames running up its surface, and a curled stalk. The last fruit sat in the middle. It was simple, round, and it had black and purple bumps covering its surface, making it hard to tell what kind of fruit it was originally.

Both Ace's and Sabo's eyes widened in shock at the sight of them. Both boys knew exactly what they were, yet they were unable to comprehend the fact that  _ Luffy _ had, not only found, but  _ hidden _ three Devil Fruits. Without even knowing what power they held, each one alone would be worth thirty times what they had been able to gather before Bluejam and his crew came along. And, depending on what kind they were, it could be even more than that.

Yet, as they stared at the three fruits, the thought of selling them never even crossed the three brother's minds. Slowly reaching out and taking one each, with no protest from Luffy, Ace and Sabo sat on either side of him with their eyes glued to the cursed fruits. Ace was now holding the red fruit, and Sabo the white and grey, leaving Luffy to claim the black and purple.

Tearing his eyes away from the fruit now in his hands, Ace turned to Luffy, his face still a mask of shock.

"Luffy…where did you find these?"

Luffy's eyes never moved from his fruit, but he did answer in a slightly flat tone.

"I found the red one when I was little, I was fishing and it caught on my hook. The white one I found in the forest about a month ago, it was stuck between some roots and I yanked it out. This one…I only found it two days ago…in the Grey Terminal. There were two guys fighting over it and I stole it when they weren't looking…"

By this point Sabo was looking at Luffy, his face smooth and hard as stone.

"Luffy…do you know what these are?"

"Yeah I know, they're my treasure. I was going to give each of you one when you set out on your pirate journey…but now…after…."

He didn't finish, but then again he didn't need to.

Finally looking up at his brothers, Luffy gave them both a pleading look, unshed tears in the corners of his eyes, begging them to tell him what to do. Ace and Sabo shared a look before nodding to each other and standing up, pulling Luffy up with them. Both boys wore stony expressions on their faces.

Ace thrust the hand holding his fruit into the middle of their little circle, followed by Sabo, and a moment later Luffy did the same. Then Ace spoke.

"From this day onward, we stick together. None of us leaves this island unless we all go, even when we reach 17…agreed?"

"…agreed." Sabo nodded firmly.

"…yeah." Luffy gave a similar decisive nod.

All of them took a deep breath before each brought the fruit to their mouth and, as one, all three shoved them in whole. The effects were almost immediate, though in very different ways.

Ace felt like he had just shoved a handful of bitter tasting ashes mixed with smouldering coals into his mouth. The flavor almost seemed to burn his mouth and throat as he ate. Underneath the heat he could taste the overwhelming flavor of rot. It took all his willpower to swallow, and even more to stop himself from throwing it right back up.

Then, the heat from the fruit started to spread throughout the rest of his body. It felt like it was getting hotter and hotter as it moved from his stomach to his arms and legs, before settling in his chest like the world's worst case of heartburn. It felt like he was burning up from the inside out. Then, just before a scream erupted from his throat, it stopped. The heat was still there, burning hot in his chest, but now it just felt…right, like it was a part of him.

He failed to notice that his body was now covered in small flickering flames. Tiny fires that didn't just emerge from his skin, but that  _ were _ his skin. Even the tips of his hair were alight, fires no bigger than a candle flame dancing around his head in something approaching a halo.

Sabo's fruit tasted like warm, watery mud mixed with shit. The texture made him think of the time Ace had hit him in the face with a water balloon and it went in his mouth, rubbery and chewy. The juice inside it was burning hot, to the point it felt like it was evaporating in his mouth before shooting down his throat, making his eyes water. He could feel it as the fruit travelled down his throat and hit his stomach.

The moment it did the fruits boiling heat rushed through him like it was replacing his very blood, Sabo felt his body become weightless, and the air around him felt so damp and heavy it nearly hurt to breathe. Just when he felt like he was going to pass out, it stopped. He still felt warm and weightless, the air was still heavy and damp in his lungs, but not in a bad way anymore.

Like Ace, he didn't notice what was going on around him as he tried to come to grips with the changes his body was forced to undergo. He was oblivious as steam started shooting out of his nose and ears with a high pitched whistle like a kettle. His whole body became slightly hazy, rippling as if he were a mirage that would disappear any moment, and the floor under his feet grew damp with condensation.

For Luffy, the moment the fruit entered his mouth he wanted to spit it out, and that was not something he had ever wanted to do before. The fruit was the most awful thing he had ever eaten in his life! But Luffy had never spat out food before, and he'd be damned if he would spit it out now.

Unlike Ace and Sabo's fruits, Luffy's fruit felt cold as its powers raced through him. Really though,  _ cold _ wasn't enough to describe the feeling that filled him as he chewed. It was like he was trying to eat an abyss, large and endless, yet freezing and empty at the same time. It was like he was eating nothing and everything all at once, like a solid piece of void sliding down his throat.

The moment the fruit hit his stomach Luffy felt himself  _ become _ that abyss. His body felt hollow, as though a yawning black pit had just come into existence inside him. He felt utterly empty. There was no other way to describe it, no other words. It wasn't an emotional emptiness, nor a physical one either. Luffy simply  _ was _ an endless, limitless, expanse of  _ nothing _ .

Like his brothers, Luffy's body responded to the fruits power. His short hair turned to tendrils of smoke-like shadows that moved as if blown about by an unseen wind. His eyes became pits of void, two black holes that seemed to swallow all the light in the room.

All over his body strange smoke appeared in patches, replacing his skin. Looking directly at the smoke was like looking at a patch of black abyss. No light reflected off of it. The early morning sunshine actually seemed to be  _ absorbed _ by the darkness. Because of that, it looked far more two-dimensional than anything rightly should. Anybody looking at Luffy in that moment would have said he was terrifying, like a demon surrounded by shadows and void.

When the three finally did take notice of each other, each boy felt his eyes widen at the sight of the others.

"AAHH!"

Thud!

This was followed by each of them screaming in shock, before all three brothers fell backward and fainted.

XXX

After waking up, and recovering from fainting  _ again _ when they each saw their own body, the three brothers sat in a circle in the middle of the treehouse to work through what was happening to them.

Ace decided to go first, inwardly thankful that the flames sprouting from his body hadn't set the tree on fire yet, even though he couldn't get them to go away. In the back of his mind, Ace worried about what could happen if he didn't get control of his abilities soon.

Hadn't they just watched the kind of destruction fire could create if it burned unchecked? His brother was permanently scarred by fire. His other brother was probably traumatized because of it. More than anything, Ace worried that his precious brothers would be afraid of him because of his new powers. If that happened...Ace didn't know what he would do. But he knew it wouldn't be good.

Shaking away his dark inner thoughts, the freckled boy spoke up.

"I feel like I'm on fire, but it doesn't hurt. My body is…different, I feel like I'm not solid anymore."

At his words both Sabo and Luffy nodded, they both felt the same. Then the blonde of the group chimed in.

"I'm the same, it almost feels like I'm boiling. I feel lighter than air too…wait no, it's more like I  _ am _ air!" The expression on his face was both excited and anxious.

The lightness in his body made him feel like he could do anything, go anywhere, it felt like nothing could tether him if he didn't allow it. The freedom of that feeling was amazing. But, no matter how incredible he felt, Sabo couldn't help but worry that he would get blown away by a stray breeze. If that happened, he might never find his way back to his brothers. And that thought scared him more than anything else ever had.

They both turned to look at Luffy, who was now frowning slightly as he wrapped his arms around his legs. The youngest of the trio shivered slightly, like he couldn't get warm, despite the balmy morning air filtering into the treehouse. Luffy wasn't afraid of or excited about his new power. He was using all of his focus, limited though it was, to mentally 'poke' at the void inside of him. It was a vast and cold space, there was nothing inside it at all. Just darkness.

"I'm cold and…empty. I feel like my insides are huge and go on forever, but I'm not hungry." Luffy said. His words were followed by another shiver, causing Sabo and Ace to share a worried look, before Ace spoke again.

"I think we just ate some very weird Devil Fruits. I'm pretty sure they turned us  _ into  _ different elements. If we can figure out how to work our powers we could be really strong! Nothing could touch us!" By the end Ace was sporting a determined frown, already thinking of the possibilities and chances their abilities would give them.

Sabo nodded his head in agreement, also having thought that. As he moved though, his head seemed to lose shape turning into a billow of steam, and it only began reforming when he stopped moving. Ace and Luffy's eyes bugged out, and Sabo had a perplexed look on his face once it reformed.

"Well that felt weird," he started, face growing thoughtful. "Felt like I was looking in every direction at once for a second. Made me kinda dizzy actually." He raised his hand to the side of his head and made a circular motion to emphasize his point. When he did though, his arm turned to steam, just like his head had.

Sabo thrust his arm in front of himself quickly, and watched in fascination as the limb reformed. Seeing this, Luffy and Ace looked at their own arms for a moment. Then they started slowly waving their arms around in front of them, using small circular motions. The faster they moved, the more their arms lost their shape and blurred into their respective elements.

That activity indirectly answered a few questions, but raised even more for the three. To Ace and Sabo, it was obvious that they were now made out of Fire and Steam, respectively. But none of them knew what to make of the black, smokey, substance that Luffy's arm had become.

Frowning slightly, Ace reached over and tried to grab Luffy's wrist, but his hand passed right through the black smoke. The strange thing wasn't that he couldn't touch Luffy. He'd been expecting that. It was the fact that the moment his hand came into contact with the black smoke, the rest of his body returned to normal, only to catch fire again when he pulled away.

Having seen this, Sabo tried to touch Luffy's arm, and the same thing to happened to him. As his hand passed through the black substance, he briefly solidified before returning to his more vaporous form once he lost contact.

"Weird, me and Sabo are clearly made of fire and steam now. But I don't know  _ what _ the heck Lu is made of. When I tried to touch you I felt solid again." Ace mused, hand on his chin while he studied the smoke still rising from Luffy's skin.

Sabo nodded and added, "Same here. Whatever Lu is made of must be pretty unique though. I hope we figure out what it is soon. Otherwise we could be stuck here all day!" His exasperated sigh - which released a puff of hot steam in front of him - said just how much he wanted  _ that  _ to happen.

Luffy's face brightened at that, then he turned around and reached for the chest. He rummaged around inside it for a moment, trying to grab something in the bottom. It took him a couple tries - his hands refusing to stay solid made picking things up hard - but eventually he got a good grip on it and lifted it out. Much to the older boys surprise, the item he retrieved was a book. Large, leatherbound, and thick, it was definitely not something the youngest brother would normally keep around.

"Hey, maybe this will help?" Luffy asked. "I found it at the Grey Terminal a few weeks back. I don't know what it means, but it has pictures of mystery fruits in it. Just like the ones we ate!" he grinned widely, his solid black eyes unintentionally lending the expression a menacing air.

Both older boys sat blinking for a moment before Sabo - the only one of the three who was able to read - took the book. His eyes widened at the title embossed on the cover, and his hands became intangible causing the book to hit the wooden floor with a loud 'Thud!'

There, on the front cover, the title 'Encyclopaedia of Know Devil Fruits' was stamped in peeling gold paint.

Sabo blinked once more. Then his face seemed to grow three times its normal size and he started yelling at Luffy.

"Why didn't you show me this before we ate the fruits! You Moron!" So saying, the steam-boy attempted to knock his idiot of a little brother over the head. The attempt failed when his fist passed through his brothers thick skull harmlessly. But it was the thought that counted.

Quickly calming down - and pointedly ignoring Ace laughing at the terrified expression on Luffy's face - Sabo made his hands solid and started flipping through the book in search of the fruits they had just eaten. He quickly found both his and Ace's fruits, confirming that they were the Logia for Fire and Steam respectively. It took a lot longer to find Luffy's. The fruit, it turned out, was right near the very back of the book.

Clearing his throat to get his siblings attention, Sabo started reading out the page that went with the picture.

"Dark Dark Fruit, Logia. Turns the eater into darkness itself. Previous users have been reported to have control over darkness, minor control over shadows, and even a measure of control over gravitational forces. The fruit has also been rumoured to...completely negate the powers of other Devil Fruits through touch…"

While both Sabo and Ace were now staring at Luffy in disbelief, the boy himself could only blink in confusion as he started picking his nose.

"Ne,Sabo? What's that gravi-thing the book mentioned? And what's a neg-gate?"

Shaking his head, Sabo straightened his back and quickly went into 'teacher mode,' which was something he had developed shortly after meeting Ace and Luffy. It helped when he needed to explain things to them, a regular occurrence as they never went to school and had never had anyone else to teach them.

He tried to keep the lesson as straightforward as possible. Knowing Luffy, he probably only heard half of it anyway, so simple was the best way to go.

"Its  _ gravity  _ and  _ negate,  _ Luffy. Gravity is the force that pulls people and objects toward the ground, and sometimes toward other things. Negate means to cancel something out. Basically, the books says you can stop other people from using their Devil Fruit powers by touching them."

The youngest of the three boy's eyes widened at this news, stars appearing in them as a large grin crossed his lips.

"Really? That's so COOL! Shishishishi!"

Seeing Luffy finally returning to his usual, happy self, took away almost all of the tension that had been building up between the three. Neither Ace nor Sabo could keep the grins off of their own faces. Before long, Sabo and Ace both started to laugh along with their younger brother.

When they finally calmed down, the three once again sat in a circle facing each other. Clearing his throat Ace started talking again, though in a much lighter tone than before.

"We need to figure out how to control our powers. You know, train and stuff to get stronger."

"Yeah!" Luffy cheered, pumping a fist in the air. He was raring to get started and see just what he could do.

Both older boys simply smiled at Luffy's excited yell before turning to face each other. They both knew Luffy probably wouldn't be much help with working out ways to train.

Sabo, being the brains of the trio, took a moment to think. His eyes moved over both his brothers, before glancing down his own unstable body.

"Yeah, you're right, but I think the first thing we need to do is learn how to be solid again. Maybe we just need to concentrate, you know  _ think _ ourselves solid…"

Deciding it was worth a try Ace and Sabo both concentrated as hard as they could on being solid. It only took about fifteen minutes to regain their normal forms, and another thirty to get Luffy to listen and do what they said. The three then spent the next hour or so practising shifting their bodies from solid, to elemental, and back again.

Surprisingly, it wasn't as hard as they thought it would be once they got the basics down. Their powers knew what they wanted to do and acted to follow their commands without much fuss. It was even more surprising when Luffy was the first to get full control over the change from one form to another. He was quickly followed by Sabo, with Ace coming in last much to the fire-boys displeasure.

They spent another two hours turning different parts of their bodies into their respective elements, making sure they could control their powers completely. Ace was the first to master changing only one part of his body at a time into his element. He took great pleasure in wagging his fiery fingers at the other two, a smug smirk on his lips while he poked fun at his brothers. With that kind of motivation it was Luffy who figured it out second, he was able to change any part of his body into a void at a moments notice.

Sabo took the longest to work it out, his body didn't want to change just one part of itself to steam. But eventually he figure out that he had to make his body into steam so thick it supported him fully. By the time he managed to make his legs steam, while keeping his upper body solid, a large pool of water was starting to form underneath him.

The three continued to practise with their powers for the rest of the morning and well into the afternoon. Over the course of the day they learned a lot about their abilities. One of the most important things they learned was the fact that their emotions could affect their control.

This was proven by Ace when he ended up bursting into flames after he got mad at Luffy for stealing his lunch. And then by Sabo when he grew so frustrated he literally burst into a cloud of steam. It was so hot it would have given Ace and Luffy severe burns had they not transformed into their elements in time. Luffy got hungry around lunchtime and his gravitational pull almost tore down a whole wall of the treehouse before he got a hold of himself. The brothers knew that they would need to keep themselves in check if they didn't want to hurt each other or destroy things by accident.

Their next discovery was all thanks to Luffy. None of them expected what happened when he started bragging about how his punch was stronger than a bullet in his usual brash and excitable manner. The punch he threw to emphasize his point sent a ball of darkness shaped like his fist across the room, destroying several branches outside the treehouse.

This lead to the three boys creating their first attacks by practicing sending out simple, fist-shaped, balls of their element which acted like a punch. It also proved to the three just how different each of their powers acted compared to the other two.

Ace had little trouble forming the ball and sending it out. But it had set a section of the tree on fire, leaving the three boys scrambling to put it out before it spread. It reminded Ace just how dangerous his fire could be. A thoughtless action on his part nearly destroyed their home, and Ace knew he couldn't live with himself if he accidentally hurt one of his brothers.

And remembering the haunted look on Luffy's face from when they were putting out his fires, Ace suspected he already had hurt his little brother in a sense. And that knowledge tore him up inside like he'd downed a bag of nails. Ace resolved to practice hard with his powers and master them. And also to not practice around any trees for awhile.

Sabo had the most difficulty with sending out an attack. When he first tried it his attack simply dispersed into the air, leaving nothing but a slight wet patch on the floor. His next attempts all met with the same fate, and Sabo's frustration was made quite clear by the steam shooting out of his ears. It wasn't until he figured out he needed to  _ compress _ his steam that he was able to launch an attack like his brothers. It made him realise that he would need to use his brain more than the other two in order to utilize his Devil Fruit to its fullest potential.

Luffy had no problems with creating balls of darkness to send out, his fist shaped attacks did plenty of damage to the tree branches they were aimed at. A misfired attack that hit Sabo even confirmed the spectral attacks had a surprising amount of weight behind them. It was when Luffy started trying to make the attacks  _ bigger _ that he ran into a problem.

His attacks each had their own field of gravity, which was why they did so much damage. But when that field increased in size, it started to drag things towards it, even as it was drawn toward the target it was aimed at. They came by that information the hard way, when Luffy created a globe of darkness that was about the size of his head. When he released it, the attack managed to destroy not only the tree branches he'd aimed at, but also the window, part of the wall, and one empty crate that the attack had flown over.

The two older boys decided then and there that Luffy was  _ not _ allowed to train with his Devil Fruit if Ace or Sabo weren't with him. His power had  _ far _ too much potential for collateral damage. Visions of Luffy accidentally sucking half the forest into a void danced in the older boys heads as they forced Luffy to promise not to use his powers without one of them there. Luffy turned the tables on them though, when he demanded the same from them.

With some grumbling from all parties, it was agreed that none of them would practise with their abilities unless one or both of the others was with them to help if things went wrong. It was also agreed that they would never train in the treehouse. They still needed a place to live after all.

XXX

One Month Later

XXX

The three brothers were running through the forest, all of them using their powers to help them move through the dense trees and over uneven ground. Their afternoon sprints were a training exercise Sabo had come up with to help them with their control. And it was something for them to do together.

Ace and Sabo had even turned it into a sort of game to keep Luffy interested in it. The older boys had made the training challenge a simple one. The goal was to get from the treehouse to the edge of the forest as fast as possible, without killing anything, and using whatever means the three imaginative boys could think up.

This might have been an easy race for the three, had it not been for the varied, large, and dangerous animals that roamed among the trees looking for their next meal. Lucky for them, they had their new powers to defend against the hungry predators. And those skills were even more essential for this particular game, where the point of it all was to get better at evading attacks and moving over rough terrain.

Ace was using his fire to propel him in short bursts between the trees, and sometimes through the air itself. He couldn't actually fly, at least not yet, but he could use it to slow his decent or increase his jumping height and distance. His method of travel had the added benefit of scaring off any would be attackers.

Jumping from a high root, he kicked out a burst of flames to give himself an extra push. Ace didn't hesitate for a second when his feet hit the ground again, he simply kept running and jumping between the tall tree trunks.

"Nice work avoiding the tree hot-head!" Sabo yelled, looking over his shoulder for a brief second at Ace. "Keep it up though! If you set the forest on fire again,  _ you're  _ the one who has to get water from the river!"

Ace just frowned up at his blonde brother, and then picked up his pace. After practicing for almost a month, he had gotten very good at avoiding the trees, having burst into flames more than once after hitting them. Every time it happened, he and his brothers had to scramble to make sure he didn't start a forest fire.

"I haven't hit a tree in ages! And I am not going to get water from the river without help!" He yelled.

"Well I'm not helping you flame-brain!" Sabo called back. "Get Luffy to help you if you're that much of a wimp!"

Sabo actually was flying, though it was very shaky and he still needed to land regularly. His body being weightless made floating through the air simple, the hard part was moving around once he was up. His solution to this was releasing his steam from different parts of his body in order to propel him in the direction he wanted to go. But it was a skill he had only just started training a week ago, and it was clear he still needed to work on it.

Having overheard his brothers conversation, Luffy cut in.

"Ne? No way! I don't wanna help Ace carry a bunch of water! Just don't hit a tree!" He yelled, before he bounded through the shadow of a large boulder.

Luffy's preferred method of transportation was running through the shadows the forest created. Appearing from them, seemingly at random, before disappearing once more. He was the fastest of the three, but not by much, and only because Sabo was still learning how to fly.

"I just told you, I haven't hit a tree in forever! I'm not going to hit one now!" Ace shouted after his brothers. Then he leaped from another root and narrowly missed hitting a large tree trunk, which set Luffy and Sabo to snickering at him. Ace just scowled in response and pushed himself to run faster.

Sabo and Luffy were so busy laughing at Ace, they didn't notice when two things came to block their path. The blonde boy was thrown wildly off course by a flock of parrots that flew in front of and through him. He ended up flipping top-over-teakettle, and right into the trunk of a nearby tree, when he became partially solid in his surprise. Luffy failed to see the brightly lit clearing ahead of him when he dove out of another shadow, thus he managed a spectacular face-plant into the dirt.

Clutching his sides, laughing loudly, Ace pointed at his brothers as he said, "See?! Not so easy now is it!"

The minor brawl that broke out after that was pretty much a foregone conclusion.

Truly though, all three of them were naturals, taking to their respective elements perfectly.

Ace, with his wild nature and short temper, found his Fire a perfect fit.

Sabo, who always used his brain and couldn't be caught and tied down, was at home with his Steam.

Luffy, always hungry and relying on his instincts to get him through, found the more…odd properties of Darkness very fitting.

In fact it seemed Luffy had taken to his new abilities like a fish to water. He excelled at using his instincts and natural denseness to take his understanding of his powers to a higher level then either Sabo or Ace had been able to in the time since they had eaten the Devil Fruits.

Sabo and Ace knew that Luffy was, at least in terms of pure power, stronger than both of them now. Between his ability to cancel out their own powers, and his ability to suck anything and everything into a space of seemingly infinite darkness he had found inside himself, neither would really be able to stop him. It was only their own skill and experience that kept them ahead of him, making it so that Luffy still had yet to beat either in a sparring match.

Sabo still carried his pipe as a weapon, trying to find ways to use it with his steam for combat. He had found it was easier and faster to compress steam when it was being pushed into a confined space, and his pipe was the perfect tool for the job. Ace found he preferred using pure fire attacks, but as a precaution he had taken to carrying a small knife strapped to his lower back. And he hardly ever took it out expect when he needed it for hunting. Luffy was the same as always and refused to use a weapon. The difference was that, with his powers, he didn't  _ need _ one.

Over the last month the three had also been training their combat abilities by hunting the giant animals in the jungle. Compared to how things were before they ate the Devil Fruits, hunting now seemed almost too easy. Before, it would take all three of them working together just to run away from a giant tiger. And even then it would be close.

Now, each boy alone could take on as many as they wanted without getting a scratch on them. Having a body not made out of flesh and blood helped a lot, so they couldn't actually get hurt while doing that kind of training anyway. It was mostly to work on their attacks and endurance. And the accelerated healing that came with their elemental bodies was quite useful as well when they  _ did  _ get injured.

The burn on Sabo's face had healed almost instantly after he ate the Steam Steam Fruit. Though it had still left a large scar covering the left side of his face over his eye. He was actually lucky he hadn't lost it or suffered more severe damage. And though the scar was very visible, after seeing himself in the mirror Sabo had simply grinned and declared that it looked 'badass.'

Ace and Luffy had also made several trips into Goa Kingdom in the time since the Grey Terminal was burned. Sabo refused to set a single foot within its walls again, and Ace and Luffy didn't press him.

They had wanted to see if any of the people even  _ cared _ about what the Nobles had done after the Celestial Dragon left. What they found within the city's walls made them sick to their stomachs. While the regular citizens of Goa acknowledged it as a tragedy, the Nobles didn't even seem to notice there was any difference.

They were just going about their daily lives as if nothing had happened, once again throwing all their garbage away into the Grey Terminal. By the end of the month it was already well on its way to returning to its former size. People who had nowhere else to go returned to live and scavenge in the Noble's filth, even after what had happened during the fire.

When they had told Sabo what they had seen, he didn't seem at all surprised.

The moment Luffy gained enough skill to spy on the city through the shadows, the three brothers stopped going into the city proper altogether. Though Luffy would sneak in from time to time, foregoing his powers in order to train, and he made a point of stealing food right off the Nobles tables. Truly, Luffy saw more of Goa than either of his brothers with his sporadic training trips and more regular spy missions.

And though the three would like to forget about the Kingdom, the reason they didn't was simple. They could not forgive the Nobles for what they had done.

Sabo warned his brothers that, because it had worked once, the Nobles might decide to burn the Grey Terminal again. Which was why he had Luffy listening out for any mention of such plans, or if another Celestial Dragon would be making an appearance.

The three boys were determined not to let something so horrific happen again. And so they patiently prepared for the day they would burn the city down with the Nobles, and everyone who had let what happened happen, trapped inside it.

Though Sabo insisted they should take as much time to train as possible before acting on their plans. Because the moment they attacked, the World Government would be after them. Until that day came Sabo planned out every possible step they could take, every way they could get revenge for the people that had died so the Nobles could look good.

The day they destroyed Goa Kingdom, would be the day their adventure began.

**Author's Note:**

> New Authors Note:  
> This took longer than I thought it would. But I did most of my editing on my phone so I'd say I did pretty well. I had wanted to post this right after Christmas, as a kind of gift to everybody who liked the original version of this, but...  
> I got busy and shit happened. So...Here's a New Years present instead!  
> Let me know what you guys think! I love hearing your thoughts.
> 
> Original Authors Note:  
> Hope you like the chapter.  
> Luffy has now eaten the Dark Dark Fruit (sorry Blackbeard :P), and Sabo ate the Steam Steam Fruit (which to my knowledge is something I came up with on the spot, it seemed to fit his steampunck stile). Ace is still a fire man.  
> They will not be setting off for the Grand Line until Luffy turns 17, but that doesn't mean they will not be exploring the four sea's they are currently in. They will be Co-Captains.  
> Some may have also noticed that the three's powers are also almost the polar opposites of the admirals, Fire-Ice, Dark-Light and Steam-Magma. I know the last one isn't really a very good fit, but I honestly think that a Water Water Fruit would make no sense considering Devil Fruit eaters can't move in water so I decided to go with steam instead.  
> Let me know what you think :)


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